403 Forbidden

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard speaks at a press conference in Pontiac about the reduction of life sentences for murderers convicted to life for crimes committed as minors on July 27, 2016.Gus Burns | fburns@mlive.com

He spoke of a convict who stabbed a 9-year-old girl 27 times after killing and sexually assaulting her mother and cousin when he was 17; a 15-year-old who robbed, raped and murdered a woman at random; a 16-year-old who robbed and executed a couple in 1989; and a 16-year-old who executed a police officer who kindly drove him home after a traffic stop in 2008.

Because of two Supreme Court rulings, prosecutors and police across the nation must argue in court to justify life sentences previously issued to convicted murders who killed before they were 18.

Some of the cases in Oakland and Wayne counties are upwards of a half-century old.

Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica R. Cooper reviewed 49 applicable cases in her county and determined 44 of the convicts never deserve freedom.

"And we're here to say we support her in that determination," Bouchard said at a press conference Wednesday.

In 2012, a Supreme Court Decision ruled in Miller v. Alabama it's unconstitutional to give anyone under the age of 18 a mandatory life sentence for murder. The ruling didn't say a life sentence is unconstitutional, only that each sentence must receive individual scrutiny -- a life sentence cannot be automatic.

But it was the 2016 Supreme Court ruling in Montgomery v. Louisiana that made the rule retroactive, meaning anyone sentenced to mandatory life for murder when they were younger than 18 must have their sentences reviewed.

The latter ruling means a lot more work for prosecutors and law enforcement across the U.S.

More than half of those cases -- 145 in Wayne County, 49 in Oakland County and about a dozen in Macomb County -- occurred in Metro Detroit.

Bouchard said he wants the public to know what kind of people are in that unique category.

"These are not innocent children who were joyriding or doing something minor," he said, adding many have continued to exhibit violent proclivities behind bars, assaulting, stabbing and sometimes killing other inmates or guards.

Michael Kvam, 49, lodged at the Ionia Correctional Facility, sexually assaulted and stabbed 27-year-old JoAnn Bray, 27, in her Rochester home, Bouchaed said. He then proceeded to another room where he killed and sexually assaulted Bray's 15-year-old niece. After that, he went into the bedroom of Bray's 9-year-old daughter.

"He ordered his co-defendant to kill the 9-year-old, who refused, and then Michael stabbed the 9-year-old 27 times while she plead for her life," Bouchard said. "Just let that sink in for a second and imagine that that person gets out."

Prosecutors in Michigan were given 180 days after the 2016 Supreme Court ruling to submit a list of all of the juvenile lifers convicted to mandatory life in their jurisdiction.

Since the rulings, it's been unclear whether a judge or jury would decide if a life sentence without parole for juvenile murders would be upheld.

A state Court of Appeals decision last week ruled Michigan Circuit Court judges may independently determine sentence changes without a jury.

That ruling could however be appealed to the federal courts, in which case many counties could elect to await an outcome before resentencing their cases.

"This is not bedtime reading ... " Bouchard said of the cases he looked at. "You read these cases and you're stunned at the depravity and violence ...

"And then to think 44 of them might get turned loose is staggering ... When you carry that across the state, we're looking at an unparalleled deadly crime spree should that occur."